The file contains a lot of stuff that we already knew, such as Jobs experimenting with drugs during college and the lawsuits he was involved with while he was at Apple.

It does contain some interesting information such as high school GPA. It was a 2.65 if you were wondering. The FBI interviewed a lot of people with a common consensus being that Jobs could be trusted, but questioned his moral character. Some people, however, said that he couldn’t be trusted whatsoever.

Some of the more juicy comments on Jobs’ character are as follows:

[Redacted] advised that he has been acquainted with Mr. Jobs since [redacted]. He characterized Mr. Jobs as a deceptive individual who who is not completely forthright and honest.

[Redacted] advised that he is no longer friends with Mr. Jobs. He feels bitter toward and alienated by Mr. Jobs based on his association with Mr. Jobs at ACI. He characterized Mr. Jobs as an honest and trustworthy individual; however, his moral character is questionable.

They further stated that Mr. Jobs has integrity as long as he gets his way.

She stated she was somewhat reluctant to discuss the Appointee since she has questions concerning his ethics and his morality.

To read the rest of the almost 200 page file, it can be perused for your enjoyment here. There’s a lot of information that may be interesting for the Steve Jobs fan.

Well, now it looks as though not all of the negative attention is coming from customers. The New York Times is reporting that the FCC has taken notice of the planned fee, and is going to investigate. The FCC expressed their concern over the matter, and said that they intended to look into the matter.

Yesterday I speculated that negative PR might not be enough to dissuade Verizon from going ahead and instituting this “convenience fee,” since they stand to make a considerable sum of money from it. This, however, is a different matter. We will just have to wait and see whether the FCC’s attention will succeed where public opinion might well have failed.

In 2009, Amazon began asking labels to give it a 1 day exclusive and digital marketing support as part of the Daily Deal package. "When that happened iTunes said, enough of that shit," and began threatening to bury releases that had been featured on it competitor.

Once a beloved and scrappy upstart, the DOJ investigation is further confirmation that Apple’s image is shifting to that of corporate behemoth. According to NPD Group data, Apple is the dominant retailer of music downloads in the U.S. with 69% of the market and Amazon is second with just 8%. When physical product is factored in, Apples is still #1 with 26.7% of sales.

“Certainly if the Justice Department is getting involved, it raises the possibility of potential serious problems down the road for Apple,” Daniel L. Brown, an antitrust lawyer at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton told the New York Times.

Inside Amazon’s Daily Deal

The Daily Deal has been, for all practical purposes, a free promotion subsidized by Amazon. If accepted into the  program, artists and labels are asked for a one day exclusive. During that 24 hours Amazon aggressively discounts the title to between $1.99 and $3.99. In part, to keep each sale eligible to be counted on the major charts, Amazon actually reimburses the labels at the normal wholesale price. In effect, subsidizing about $3 of each purchase.  Amazon MP3 also features the title on its web pages and to the 1.4 million that follow the Daily Deal on Twitter.

Unlike the old price and positioning charges at brick and mortar retail, Amazon and most other online retailers do not charge labels for these promotions.  In the case of the Daily Deal, artists and labels are only asked to promote the release via their web sites, email lists and social networks.

Some label executives worried that deep discounts cannibalized early sales that would have happened at full price. But one major label group recently told its labels that its own studies had shown that as much as 95% of all Daily Deal sales were incremental and would never have happened without the discount.

Apple Fought Back

Steve Jobs has often attempted to position himself as a champion of music and Apple as music’s savior. But not this time.

Starting early last year, Jobs & Co. reportedly made it clear to almost every major and indie record label that participation in Amazon’s Daily Deal would cost then dearly at iTunes. Afraid of Apple’s power, most labels capitulated.

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Steve Jobs let the world know and issued a prepared statement on Apple’s earnings.

Even in these economically challenging times, we are incredibly pleased to report our best quarterly revenue and earnings in Apple history,” the CEO said.

That’s to the tune of over $10 billion dollars. A big number for sure. Increased sales of Macs and iPhones led the charge in the fourth quarter but Apple is already advising that Q1 of this year may not be so great. Interestingly enough it’s not the business of Apple that is getting the most attention these days. In fact, it seems as if the great performance in otherwise dark days is an afterthought when compared to the news swirling around the health of Steve Jobs and the SEC’s interest in the whole situation.

Jobs is on a leave of absence until June of this year to work out some more complex medical concerns than the initially reported hormone imbalance that kept him away from MacWorld for the first time ever. There has been widespread speculation as to his health. Mr. Jobs is a pancreatic cancer survivor which in and of itself is amazing. Unfortunately, if you have ever dealt with a situation either personally or with someone close to you regarding cancer (which I have) it’s hard to feel like you are ever out of the woods.

Many feel that Steve Jobs IS Apple which is fair and unfair all at once. He is just one man but he has branded the company with his own image for so long that many people act as if he sits in his office and develops these products himself. Apple is a company of incredible minds and it often goes unmentioned amid the celebrity treatment of Jobs.

The SEC is concerned that the disclosures of Jobs’ health condition will affect investors’ ability to ‘predict’ what will happen to the company. Apple’s response was as expected:

In a conference call, Apple executives also sought to play down Mr. Jobs’s leave. “Apple will do extremely well” regardless of who is leading the company, said Tim Cook, Apple’s chief operating officer, who has assumed Mr. Jobs’s day-to-day duties while the CEO is away. Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s chief financial officer, added that “Steve is the CEO of Apple and plans to remain involved in major strategic decisions.”

Personally, I wish we didn’t have to concentrate so hard on this poor guy’s health. I suspect that the increased scrutiny and the SEC digging into the situation (although no one knows how deeply yet) doesn’t help him recover any. I hope that for one moment today we can all take some time and pray for him (or whatever it is you do to wish him well).

What is your feeling about products and people and branding having the blurred lines like they do at Apple? Is it good to put too much on a person who could have health issues, a car wreck or something else that suddenly leaves a void that may or may not exist? If Steve Jobs were not able to return to Apple will the innovation stop? Hard questions for hard times and there are no right or wrong answers.

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